Of Medicine and Magic (a series of Dramione one-shots)
by FlyingMouse
Summary: Hermione and Draco just started training to be Healers at St. Mungo's Hospital. Although Draco still harbors hidden feelings for Hermione, Hermione has no interest in Draco. Instead, she has been falling for one of her patients, Tom Riddle, mainly because his illness has been taking up the majority of Hermione's time at the hospital. Not to mention Ron is also one of her patients..
1. Brief Background Info

**_NOTE: These are one-shots, so you can read any of these in any order you want without getting confused. However, these one-shots are sequential, meaning whatever happened in the earlier one-shots will always carry over to the later ones. But like I said, these one-shots are written in a way so that you can still understand what's happening in any of the one-shots you read without knowing any info from the earlier ones._**

Hermione and Draco just started training to be Healers at St. Mungo's Hospital. Although Draco still harbors hidden feelings for Hermione, Hermione has no interest in Draco. Instead, she has been falling for one of her patients, Tom Riddle, mainly because his illness has been taking up the majority of Hermione's time at the hospital. Not to mention Ron is also one of her patients, and has been trying to win her back.

Meanwhile, Astoria Greengrass has been placed under Draco's care, so she has also been taking advantage of her hospital time to try and stir things up…

 _ **Patients under Draco's care**_ :

\- -Harry Potter

\- -Blaise Zabini

\- -Astoria Greengrass

\- -Bellatrix Lestrange (the Organink Wand brought her back)

\- -Albus Dumbledore (the Organink Wand brought him back)

 _ **Patients under Hermione's care:**_

\- -Ginny Weasley

\- -Ron Weasley

\- -Pansy Parkinson

\- -Tom Riddle (the Organink Wand brought him back)

\- -Severus Snape (the Organink Wand brought him back)

 _ **Patients under Luna's care:**_

\- -Theodore Nott

\- -Narcissa Malfoy

\- -Lucius Malfoy

\- -Fred Weasley (the Organink Wand brought him back)

\- -George Weasley

 _ **Other patients at the hospital (under the care of other Healers)**_ :

\- -Neville Longbottom

\- -Sirius Black (the Organink Wand brought him back)

\- -Remus Lupin (the Organink Wand brought him back)

\- -Nymphadora Tonks (the Organink Wand brought her back)

\- -Hagrid

\- -Minerva McGonagall

\- -Cho Chang

\- -Lavender Brown (the Organink Wand brought her back)

\- -Arthur Weasley

\- -Molly Weasley


	2. A Cockroach Crawls Up Draco's Nose

**_NOTE: These are one-shots, so you can read any of these in any order you want without getting confused. However, these one-shots are sequential, meaning whatever happened in the earlier one-shots will always carry over to the later ones. But like I said, these one-shots are written in a way so that you can still understand what's happening in any of the one-shots you read without knowing any info from the earlier ones._**

Hermione was the first to arrive at the anatomy lecture room, ready to start her first day working with patients as a Healer trainee. She had spent the past two years learning the biomagical foundations of the human body and all the magical and nonmagical types of illnesses and treatments, and today was finally the day she could set foot in St. Mungo's Hospital where she could put all her knowledge into good use. All she had to do was wait 30 minutes until Dr. Milette Barkson showed up to assign her and the other Healer trainees to their first hospital wings.

As she sat on the middle chair of the front row, she suddenly felt something slimy cover her head. She turned to her reflection on the glass window to her right, and screamed. Her hair was gone—instead, there were long, slimy, brown worms piled atop her head, extending in and out.

"AGH! WHAT IN THE WORLD?!" Hermione jumped up and whipped out her wand, only to realize that she had no idea how to address this issue.

"Restorio Scalpus!" Shouted a familiar voice from across the room.

Instantly, the worms on Hermione's head were replaced by her normal, curly-brown, bushy hair.

Hermione whirled around to see Draco Malfoy cracking up on a seat three rows behind her. "Ah, I'm so glad the Auror Department allowed me to part-time so that I could pursue a career as a Healer! There are so many awesome spells that only Healers and Mediwizards could learn." He raised his eyebrows at her and smirked. "Practicing such spells on Mudbloods will be the best part of Healer training."

"Draco, I'm going to hex you to oblivion!" She spoke through gritted teeth. She aimed her wand at him. "Respiroachusso!"

A cockroach blasted from the tip of her wand and flew toward Draco's face. Before Draco was able to say or do anything, the cockroach landed on his nose and crawled up his nostril.

"Ahh!" Draco flinched and nearly fell out of his seat. He stood up and glared at Hermione. "Dammit, Granger, if you don't eliminate that bug, I'm going to have those worms crawling out from every hole on your body!"

"You do realize that you're just one strike away from being expelled from the School of Medical Magic," Hermione said coolly. "So if I tell Dr. Barkson that you just used one of the Physio Spells on me again, your career as a Healer will already be over."

Draco clenched his fists, glowering. "Oh, and you don't think you'd be getting into any trouble for giving me a Nasal Roach? Those things shit in your nasal cavities! I'm going to be little brown chunks of roach shit falling from my nose all day!" A chunk of brown slime was already leaking out from his right nostril as he spoke.

Hermione held back a laugh as Draco angrily grabbed a nearby tissue and blew his nose. "Agh. Gross," he grumbled, stomping over to toss the brown-soaked tissue into a trash can.

Hermione raised her eyebrows at him. "Don't worry, the roach will die within 15 minutes, so by the time Dr. Barkson gets here, you should be back to normal."

Draco made his way toward Hermione, glaring at her face to face. "I don't care about any probation I'm on, Granger. I'll find a way to cast sparkling bacteria into your bloodstream so you'll start bleeding out of all holes in your body."

Hermione glared at him. "Well then, I'm going to find a way to summon flesh-eating spiders inside your body so that all your organs will be eaten up."

They spent the next 15 minutes bickering and threatening to hex each other with the most absurd, gut-wrenching types of diseases they had learned about, although never actually casting any of the spells they threatened each other with. By the time it was 8:00AM, the doors opened and a flood of Healer trainees arrived. Luna Lovegood was among the first to step in.

"Good morning, Hermione," she greeted with a calm smile.

"Hi, Luna," Hermione smiled back. Then she spoke in a careful tone. "How are you and Neville doing?" She and Luna had gotten closer over the past two years of Healer training, so she had seen how Luna's relationship with Neville had faltered when her Healer training schedule took up so much of her time. Not to mention, she and Blaise seemed to have gotten a lot closer since the former Slytherin had been visiting the Healer trainees' classroom buildings to hang out with Draco and Dr. Barkson's son, Galvin, who was also a Healer.

Luna's calm expression didn't change as she replied. "Oh, we've been doing quite well, actually. He's loving Hogwarts. I think he's becoming such a wonderful, inspiring Herbology Professor. And I'm very excited to finally start training in the hospital now."

Hermione nodded. "That's great, Luna. But I meant how are you and Neville doing as…friends now?"

Luna sighed. "Oh, I guess so. We haven't really spoken to each other very much lately. But I'm sure we can both learn to move on."

"Okay. Well, if you ever need someone to talk out how you're feeling about the way things are going between you two, I'm always here for you."

Luna grinned. "Thanks, Hermione. I can say the same for you."

Hermione chuckled. She invested much of her time in a relationship during the past two years. After the war, she and Ron had gotten engaged, and they had remained engaged for almost four years. During those four years, she had been working to get a PhD in Biomagical Genetics, working in a genetics lab at the Wizarding University of Sorcery and Science. Eventually, she got her PhD, but had become so fascinated with the intersection of science and magic in her research on Biomagical Genetics that she felt the calling to use both the scientific and magical knowledge she had gained to help people.

Thus, she had decided to pursue a career as a Healer, specifically to get a degree as an MD-PhD. That way, she could fulfill her goal of using her knowledge of sorcery and science in both the clinic as a Healer and in the lab as a Scientist-Sorcerer. Obviously, such career goals would make her busier than she had ever been before, and Ron had been terrible at being understanding with how busy her schedule was going to be, so she decided it was best if they end their relationship and stay single. Of course, so much more had destroyed her relationship with Ron in the past few years, many of which had nothing to do with her career and professional life, but Hermione didn't want to think about that.

Right now, all she could focus on was how she was going to use her magic to heal the most bizarre diseases that had been plaguing the wizarding community.

She looked around and saw the other Healer trainees—Draco included—gathering around the paper that had been pinned on the door of the room.

"Oh," Hermione blinked. "Dr. Barkson already posted the hospital assignments for everyone? I didn't even see her come in."

Luna nodded. "She's very busy with her patients today. She had to be at the surgery wing by 8:15AM, so it's understandable that she would just send us the assignments list and move on with her day."

Hermione and Luna walked up to the door and saw that all the names of the Healer trainees were sorted into one of four boxes. At the top of each box was the name of the Healer who was going to be their mentor for the year.

Luna smiled. "Looks like you and I have the same mentor. We'll be apprentices of Lexa Barkson."

Hermione bit her lip. Lexa Barkson was Milette Barkson's neurotic daughter. She had gotten to know her when the Barkson family was still working at their own private hospital located near her former genetics lab a few years ago, and had gotten used to Lexa's uptight and workaholic personality, but the young Healer's extreme emotional instability and neuroticism made her seem like a psychotic version of Hermione who was on the verge of a major anxiety disorder.

Also, that Healer was only 16 years old! As a matter of fact, Lexa had been 16 years old for the past few years. The Barkson family were literally not of this world: they were characters from a book that Hermione's former lab partner had written about. They were brought out of the book and into this world with the Organink Wand, a wand specifically designed to bring to life the characters from books, only if such books were written with Organink potion. So although they looked like any real human being in this world, something about the magic that brought them from the book and into this world prevented the characters from aging.

Hermione narrowed her eyes as she saw the names in Galvin Barkson's box. Galvin Barkson was Lexa's 21-year-old brother. He was the most obnoxious, mischievous, and egoistic human being Hermione had ever met. She would even agree that the guy was worse than Draco. Yet somehow, that smug and party-loving young man happened to be the best Healer in the Barkson family. She still would never want him as her mentor, though. She snorted as she saw Draco's name in his box.

"Wonderful," said Hermione. "Draco won't be sharing the same mentor with us. Now there's hope that we will be running into each other less often now."

There was a sudden yap in the halls behind the door. Hermione looked through a nearby window and saw Draco, Galvin, and the crowd of guys that had been assigned as Galvin's apprentices. In Galvin's arms was a Papillon dog breed with majestic, monarch butterfly wings in place of its ears. It was his Yapillon dog, Pokey. And he was looking at Hermione straight in the eye.

Hermione wished that she could adore the cute little Yapillon dog like all the other Healer trainees. But her heart was pounding with fear. She could see the mischievous glint in the canine's eyes. He was capable of eliciting Amorabloom Pollen, a hot-pink mist that would cause feelings of intensely romantic and sexual passion between two people.

She realized she had spoken too soon about running into Draco less often.


	3. The Purple Pill

**_NOTE: These are one-shots, so you can read any of these in any order you want without getting confused. However, these one-shots are sequential, meaning whatever happened in the earlier one-shots will always carry over to the later ones. But like I said, these one-shots are written in a way so that you can still understand what's happening in any of the one-shots you read without knowing any info from the earlier ones._**

"Ugh, I can't believe I have to put another pureblood on life support," Hermione groaned as she set her lunch tray next to Luna. "If only there was some sort of spell that would just make every wizard and muggle immune to that Zenox virus. Or immune to all diseases."

Luna turned to Hermione. "That would make our jobs so much easier," she spoke in her calm, smooth voice. "Unfortunately, there's still so much we don't understand about the human body. When it comes to healing people, we have to understand the science behind the illness, as well as how muggle treatments work for the specific illness, before we can understand what sort of spell can deal with the illness."

Hermione took a bite out of her apple. "I feel like we're no different from muggle doctors. We still have to understand the biology of the illness just as well as they do before we come up with a way to treat them."

"Well, there's more work for us since we also have to think about how to incorporate magic into the healing process," Luna remarked as bit into her sandwich.

Hermione rolled her eyes and set down her apple. She looked at the salad bowl on her tray and suddenly didn't feel hungry. "You know, if I just had the Organink Wand with me as well as some Organink Potion, I could just write about a specific potion that could make the immune system be able to fight all diseases in the world, and then use the Organink Wand to bring it to real life. Just like how we were able to use the Organink Wand to bring some of our old friends back to life just by writing about them." She winced. "Wait…but that would require me to write down the biology behind all of that."

"Right. The Organink Wand can't bring what you want into this world if you haven't been as detailed as possible about what you want to bring into this world."

Hermione huffed. She took her fork and started poking at her salad.

Luna changed the subject. "So which patient is on life support?"

"Ron Weasley," Hermione replied in a bitter tone.

"Oh, I bet that makes things a lot more complicated."

"Definitely. Part of me suspects that he's made himself sicker, just so that I could feel bad for him and take him back. He claims he's been taking his medications like I've been telling him to, but he's clearly lying," Hermione sighed. "His white blood cell count would be much higher than it is right now if he had been taking his Zenoxide pills. He and Pansy both started out with almost the same white blood cell count when they got here, and I've told them both to take the same dosage of Zenoxide. Pansy's white blood cell count has gone up and she's doing much better, but Ron has just gotten worse." Hermione bit her lip. "And trust me, it's not because I gave him the wrong dose. I checked with Lexa about that, and since she's our mentor, she is also overseeing the care of our patients. She confirmed that I had prescribed him the right meds and the right dosage."

"You don't suppose there's something wrong with Ron's pills?" Luna suggested. "Failing to take the recommended dosage for Zenox infection is a very serious matter, and not even the most absent-minded person in the world would let themselves fail to adhere to the treatment plan."

Suddenly, Hermione's pager buzzed. It was Lexa.

"Well, Lexa needs me to meet her in the hospital lab. I don't know how there could be anything wrong with the Zenoxide pills that Ron received, but I'll talk to Lexa about it anyway."

It turned out Lexa had already done an inspection on Ron's pills. She was standing behind the counter, staring wide-eyed and open-mouthed at the purple Zenoxide pills in front of her.

Hermione was standing at her side, shaking her head with horror. "I can't believe it," she gasped. "Someone must have cursed these pills. Their chemical makeup has been completely altered so that they cause the T cells in the immune system to self-destruct, rather than fight the Zenox virus."

Lexa slowly turned her head to face Hermione. She spoke in a quivering voice. "Tom Riddle…I think he's in love with you."

Hermione flinched. "What?! Lexa, what does that have to do with anything?"

"H-he told me he's been enjoying your company in the ICU. And I've seen the way you two talk to each other whenever I come over to verify your treatments for him. I suspect he has feelings for you!"

"Lexa…that's absurd," Hermione protested. "I will admit—I have been falling for him lately, because he seems to have changed so well. He's nothing like the diabolical, complex character I imagined him to be. But trust me. Tom told me that he isn't interested in a relationship. He loves me as a sister, just like Harry does."

Lexa was biting her nails, shaking her head. "No," she was shaking with fear. "No, he loves you, I see the way he looks at you when you turn your back. _He_ must have cursed these pills because word must have gotten out about Ron's attempts to win you back!"

Lexa picked up the bottle of Zenoxide pills and hurled them across the room. Hermione flinched as the bottle crashed against the wall and fell to the floor, spilling the remainder of the Zenoxide pills. "GAHHH!" The young girl was wailing. "This is horrible! I've never had a patient die on me before!" Before Hermione could blink, the neurotic girl grabbed had grabbed her shoulders and pinned her against a wall. Lexa was glaring at Hermione straight in the eye as she spoke through clenched teeth. "Hermione, if Ron dies, I will make sure _you_ die. Then I will make sure I die. I will NOT live in this world with an imperfect healing record!"

Hermione's heart raced at her mentor's words. The young Healer had a perfect healing record, none of her patients had ever died before. Although it was perfectly normal and expected to ensure that all patients were cured from their illnesses, Lexa's paranoia about breaking her healing record would drive her into insanity.

"Lexa—OUCH!" Hermione cringed as Lexa dug her nails into her shoulders.

"YOU MAKE SURE RON STAYS ALIVE, DO YOU HEAR ME?!"

"OF COURSE!" Hermione shouted back, wincing in pain. "I-I'll talk to Tom if you just get your hands and nails off my shoulders!"

Lexa released her. The orange-haired was panting with rage and fear. "You better figure out the source of his magic. This Zenox virus is supposed to be killing off the ability to perform magic by messing up with your wizarding gene. So all wizards in this hospital are unable to perform magic. You better figure out whether Tom is using magic to do all this—if he is, you better find a way to take it away from him…without getting him killed."


	4. Hidden Feelings

**_NOTE: These are one-shots, so you can read any of these in any order you want without getting confused. However, these one-shots are sequential, meaning whatever happened in the earlier one-shots will always carry over to the later ones. But like I said, these one-shots are written in a way so that you can still understand what's happening in any of the one-shots you read without knowing any info from the earlier ones._**

Hermione took a deep breath. "Draco, I need your help with something."

Draco was behind a computer at the EMR station, inputting patient data into the system. "Ah, asking for my help already?" Draco spoke without turning away from the computer screen as he continued to type. "You must be desperate, considering we don't even share the same Healer mentor."

"Exactly," replied Hermione. "Lexa is going crazy and wants me to do something that I believe only you can help me with. I…I need you to talk to Tom Riddle about his feelings for me."

Draco froze from typing. He turned and faced Hermione with a frown. "Why in the name of Merlin would you be asking me to talk to the former Dark Lord about such a ridiculous topic like that?" His tone was completely bland, but Hermione could tell he was feeling extremely uncomfortable. His face was almost as red as Ron's hair.

Hermione bit her lip. "Lexa thinks Tom Riddle is trying to kill Ron. She's claiming that he's the one who changed the chemistry of Ron's Zenoxide pills, because he's secretly in love with me and therefore secretly hateful toward Ron for trying to win back my affection for him."

"But you clearly don't want to have anything to do with the Weasel King," Draco spoke rather spitefully.

"I know, but if Tom really is into me, he would still feel threatened by Ron's attempts to get back together with me," Hermione felt goosebumps on her skin. "I'm honestly aghast with the idea that Tom would even be into me. He clearly tells me that he has no interest in a romantic relationship with anyone—he says he's interested in teaching at Hogwarts as an Auror once he's fully recovered, and he wants to dedicate all his time to catching criminal and dark wizards. But Lexa insists that I give Tom some Antisorcery Serum to temporarily suppress his magical powers, just in case he tries to use any magic to harm Ron. I…I feel really uncomfortable injecting something that might not even be necessary for him…he might get suspicious about why I'm giving him a magic-suppressing substance while I'm also trying to help him get his magic back by getting rid of the Zenox virus from his blood. I need you to talk to him about how he really feels about me, just so I could be sure."

Draco's eyes narrowed. "Why are you choosing me to talk with him?"

"Because you hate me, that's why," Hermione said simply. "You were someone who once had feelings for me, but those feelings died after…after everything we went through three years ago, before any Healer training started. So that if Tom really does feel for me, you can turn off those feelings by proclaiming all that you hate about me, and how my 'abhorring behavior' made you lose your interest in me." She gave him a very minor smirk. "You should have fun doing this, Malfoy. Prevent any possible feelings he has for me, so that he doesn't have to feel any antagonism toward Ron to kill him. And then I won't have to inject him with Antisorcery Serum and make him suspicious with me."

Draco stared at her with a hollow expression. Then he let out a short laugh. "Hah! According to the rumors going around this hospital, you are in love with Riddle yourself, aren't you Granger?"

Hermione spun around with frustration, her eyes directed toward the ceiling. "I'm not in love with him! Ugh! I just think he seems to be a changed person. Despite the fact that his biography consisted of all the details about his life from birth to his death as Voldemort, and despite the fact that he remembers all his experiences as the Dark Lord, he's changed. In so many ways, too. He even has such a…pleasant and…charismatic personality…" Hermione found herself staring into the distance, cracking a smile on her face. She felt a tingling sensation in her stomach. She was in love with him, and she knew it. But she couldn't admit it, not even to herself. She didn't want to let herself get caught up in her feelings for him, because there was no use: if Tom didn't feel the same way about her (as he claimed), she was just wasting emotional energy. And if Tom actually did feel the same way about her (as Lexa claimed), it would be dangerous for Ron, even if she didn't want to have anything to do with Ron.

"Granger, you're smiling, I know it," Draco sneered, despite facing her back.

Hermione's smile disappeared and she turned around to face Draco again. "Look, it doesn't matter how I feel about Tom. What matters is that he feels nothing for me," she couldn't help feeling a sharp pang of guilt for saying those words. "T-tom cannot be in love with me—I most certainly don't think he is, but just _in case_ he is, I need you to talk to him about how terrible I am at romance, so much so that you lost all your interest in me and don't want to have anything to do with me. I don't want him to be trying to end Ron's life because of some stupid crush he has on me."

Draco stared at her with a vacant look in his eyes. After a moment of silence passed between them, he spoke carefully. "I don't think I can do that, Granger."

"Oh, come on! Tom Riddle is surprisingly very easy to talk to. He's very…calm and humble. You would have never expected that he used to be the Dark Lord before he was brought back into this world. He's explained to me so much about how battling illness has taught him so much about how fragile life can be, and how it's humbled him so much so that he's made a vow to himself that he would never live another selfish and power-hungry life once he's restored back to full health. I mean, I've also had lots of conversations about my own life, my own philosophical views about right and wrong, mercy and justice, and so much more, so I'm sure everything I've told him about myself and my beliefs may have contributed to his peaceful and amiable behavior, but I can definitely see that his own personal struggle against the Zenox virus in his body has also helped him readjust his own beliefs and rethink his purpose in life. You know, so many people are scared to talk to him personally, so only Lexa and I have been the only ones who've spoken to him, but of course, that's because we're his Healers. Other people ought not to be afraid to approach him and give him a chance—"

"Granger, no need to ramble," Draco interrupted her. He turned back to his computer and resumed his typing. "I'm not going to visit Riddle and strike up that kind of conversation. He's not my patient, and more importantly, his feelings for you are not something I can help you with. Like you said: I want to have nothing to do with you, ever since I lost interest in you three years ago. So if you would please be a bit more considerate and leave me alone? I have so many patient chart reviews to do."

His typing sped up. Hermione sighed. "Fine. I—I just thought I'd give it a try, asking you for your help, as a friend or at the least, as a colleague. But I understand if this is a bit much to ask of you." She turned and walked away.

As she left, Draco stopped typing. He leaned back in his chair and stared vacantly at the computer screen. He replayed his encounter with Granger over and over again in his head, until a familiar voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Yo, Draco!" Galvin Barkson, his Healer mentor, gave him a friendly slap on the shoulder. "I heard you talking with the Granger girl. You're still into her aren't you?"

Draco sighed. Galvin and Blaise were the only two people he ever told. He spoke to his mentor without taking his distant gaze off his screen. "Dr. Barkson, I can't talk to Riddle. Especially if he supposedly loves her."

"Right," Galvin gave a smug smile as he gazed at Draco's hollow expression. "Don't wanna have the former Dark Lord after you too, especially since you're my best trainee!"


	5. Hermione Loves Riddles

_**NOTE: These are one-shots, so you can read any of these in any order you want without getting confused. However, these one-shots are sequential, meaning whatever happened in the earlier one-shots will always carry over to the later ones. But like I said, these one-shots are written in a way so that you can still understand what's happening in any of the one-shots you read without knowing any info from the earlier ones.**_

"Good morning, Tom," Hermione smiled at her patient as she walked into his room with a tray of food. "I hope you're hungry. They're serving baked French toast and cheesy scrambled eggs at the cafeteria downstairs, so I thought I'd bring you some."

Tom Riddle, who was already awake when she walked in, gave a small smile as Hermione set the tray down on a stand by his hospital bed.

"Hermione, you didn't have to," he chuckled softly at the generous serving of French toast, scrambled eggs, and fruit salad on the tray.

Hermione grinned. "Well, I was very pleased to see that your appetite was improving in the past few days, so I thought it would be a good time to surprise you with a nice breakfast. Especially since today is one of the few days that the hospital is actually serving something worth getting excited about."

Tom met her gaze, smiling weakly. "Thank you, Hermione. Unfortunately, I've been feeling rather queasy and haven't been able to sleep well last night, so I probably won't have more than a couple bites."

"Oh, I wasn't expecting you to eat all of this!" Hermione laughed. "I haven't eaten yet, so I was thinking we could share everything on this tray."

Tom sat up and gazed at the extra empty plate on the left side of the tray. "Ah, so I'm assuming this empty plate is for me to take what I can?"

"Yes, of course," chuckled Hermione. "I know the Zenox virus is only transmitted through bodily fluids, but you know I'm extra cautious anyway."

Tom winked at her. "Not as cautious as your mentor," he spoke in a playful tone.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Oh please, don't even try and make me compete against Lexa Barkson. Her conscientiousness is ramped up to the level of absurdity."

Tom raised an eyebrow. "Ah, but absurdity is a subjective term there. Are there not moments when Lexa's extreme wariness and neuroticism are useful?"

Hermione blinked. Tom was being playful with her again. She gave him a sideways smile. "So you're saying that it's sometimes necessary to be an overly-anxious, emotionally unstable mess?"

"I never said it was necessary to be anxious and emotionally unstable—just that it can be useful to have such traits, sometimes," he was facing her with his gentle smile.

Hermione chortled as she sat on a chair by his bed. She and Tom shared the French toast, scrambled eggs, and fruit salad, while engaging in a deep, philosophical conversation about the purpose of emotions and personality traits. Though both became deeply engaged in their conversation, they also cracked a few laughs over a few philosophical riddles Tom made up in response to the topic they chatted about.

Hermione found herself losing track of time as she chatted with the young man. Even when they had finished eating (there were still lots of leftover scraps on their plates), they continued to talk and talk, naturally prolonging their discussion without even realizing how much time was passing.

Suddenly, Hermione's pager buzzed. She flinched and looked at the little black device she pulled out from her pocket. "Oh, shoot! I have to meet with Snape today and prescribe him some new medications. But apparently Lexa wants me to meet her in his room in 15 minutes."

"Oh dear," gasped Tom, raising his eyebrows with genuine concern. "I hope I haven't taken up so much of your time?"

"Oh, not at all!" Hermione reassured him. "I just lost track of time, that's all. I…I just _love_ having intellectual conversations like these. None of my friends ever enjoyed them to the extent that I did, so I'm always eager to chat about my favorite philosophical topics in as much depth as possible with someone who loves to go as deep as I do in these types of discussions." She gazed at Tom endearingly.

Tom's gentle smile never left his face as he returned her gaze. "Well, I'm glad I can be your intellectual and philosophical outlet, Hermione. I'm glad I could be more than just an extra body for you busy Healers to heal."

Hermione grinned. "Oh, stop. No patient is an 'extra' body to heal. It's never a burden for me to be helping you."

Tom gave an airy chuckle. "That's wonderful to hear."

A moment of silence overcame the room. Brown eyes met brown eyes for what felt like another long time.

Hermione's heart was racing. She felt so entranced, just staring at him there.

Finally, Tom broke the silence. "Well, I would hate for you to be late to your appointment with Snape, so you should probably be on your way. If there's not anything you need to do with me."

Hermione huffed. She felt her face warm up as she remembered another reason why she was here. _What am I doing? I'm supposed to make sure Tom doesn't have any feelings for me, and here I am, having breakfast with him and spending way too long having an intellectual conversation with him._ She blinked a couple times before she spoke. "Uh—um, Tom, I actually have to put you on another medication before I leave, but it should only take about five minutes." She felt a strong wave of guilt as she took out a small, black bottle of thick liquid from coat pocket.

Tom blinked at the bottle. "Is that Antisorcery Serum?" His voice was still calm, though Hermione detected a minor tone of concern.

Hermione sighed. "Yes, Tom. Lexa says I need to put you on this because it will help diminish the Zenox viral load in your bloodstream." She hated herself for lying. Lying to patients was never a good idea. But Lexa was right. She couldn't just tell Tom the real reason for injecting him with this serum. She couldn't just ask him if he was secretly in love with her, and if he was secretly using his magic to try and kill Ron for trying to win Hermione back. At least for now, it was best to suppress his magical powers just in case he was secretly using any magic he had left in him to harm her ex-fiancé. Without telling him the real reason why he was receiving the serum.

"Really?" Tom raised an eyebrow as Hermione grabbed an injection and prepared to inject him with the black serum. "How does that work?"

"Well, the Zenox virus silences your wizarding gene and prevents you from using any magical powers. Similarly, this Antisorcery Serum prevents you from using any magical powers by stimulating an enzyme that will silence your wizarding gene. The enzyme works by binding to one of your cell receptors and stimulating some special molecules in your cell, and those molecules will work to silence your wizarding gene. Since the Zenox virual genome is already inserted into your wizarding gene, that means that once the enzyme binds to the cell receptor, the special molecules it will work to try and get rid of the Zenox virus's genome from the cell. Within a few weeks of taking this serum, the majority of the Zenox viruses will be extracted out of the wizarding gene, so that once you stop taking the serum, you can get your magical powers back." It was the most B.S. lie she could come up with. "Lexa and I just discovered how that works, so you're one of the first patients to go on this treatment."

Luckily, Tom didn't question her further. "I see. But wait—" he held up a hand before Hermione could inject him with the serum. "Before you do anything with me, I should probably tell you that I was teleported to the Barren Island last night, and was able to find my way back here."

Hermione widened her eyes. "What?! No infected wizard has been able to teleport back from the Barren Island." All wizards who were infected with Zenox virus were vulnerable to being randomly teleported to the snowy, blizzarding Barren Island where the ice dragon, Zenox, was sleeping. None were able to apparate away, because the Zenox virus had their magic suppressed.

Tom nodded. "Somehow, I was able to use magic to apparate myself away from the island, even though the Zenox virus has silenced my wizarding gene. I was shocked about it myself."

 _So he IS able to use magic…_ Hermione didn't know whether she was more shocked with the fact that Tom just admitted to her that he was able to use magic, or with the greater possibility that he could have been the one to change the chemistry of Ron's chemicals.

"Hermione, are you alright?" Tom was gazing at her. "You're looking almost as pale as me," he chuckled.

Hermione cleared her throat. "Y-yeah, I'm fine. But…you're saying you were able to apparate back here? You actually are still able to use magic, despite the Zenox virus silencing your gene?"

Tom nodded. "I didn't even realize I was still capable of using magic until I was at that island, teleported there so unexpectedly. I'm sorry…I know I should have mentioned this to you as soon as you walked in the room. Can we please talk about this some more later? I was hoping that I could use whatever magic I have left in me to apparate myself back to the Barren Island with a Healer like yourself, so that we can heal the other wizards who were also teleported there, so that they can all apparate themselves back to where they belong. I cannot rescue them myself—after I realized I was able to apparate back here, I apparated myself back to the Barren Island to try to rescue the other wizards I had met over there, but I was unable to apparate with them. There's some magic in the snowstorm on that island…it prevents nonmagical creatures from teleporting out of the island, even if they are in physical contact with a wizard."

Hermione's heart skipped a beat. "Go with you to Barren Island…you're going to need your magic back for that."

Tom nodded.

Hermione bit her lip. Currently, there was no other way to rescue the lost wizards from Barren Island. No one even knew where it was, so no one was able to apparate there. But if Tom had already visited there, he would be able to go back. And with a Healer like Hermione returning with him, she would be able to help the infected wizards heal so that they, too, could apparate away from the island with them.

Only one problem: it was possible that Tom was not telling the truth.

Hermione gazed into his eyes. Such warm, gentle, dark-brown eyes. She really hoped he was telling the truth.

"Thanks for telling me, Tom," she murmured. "I'll be back in a few hours to discuss this with you."


	6. Loitering in Snape's Room

_**NOTE: These are one-shots, so you can read any of these in any order you want without getting confused. However, these one-shots are sequential, meaning whatever happened in the earlier one-shots will always carry over to the later ones. But like I said, these one-shots are written in a way so that you can still understand what's happening in any of the one-shots you read without knowing any info from the earlier ones.**_

As Draco fast-walked down the hall to input more info into the EMR system, he heard a high-pitched scream in one of the rooms he passed by.

"YOU DIDN'T GIVE HIM THE ANTISORCERY SERUM?!"

Draco winced. That sounded like Lexa Barkson, Hermione's Healer mentor. He backed up to the room 394 and peeked through the half-open door. Snape was resting on his hospital bed, asleep. Beside his bed was Lexa, who had Hermione pinned against the wall as she screamed in her high-pitched voice.

"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MUCH DANGER YOU COULD BE PUTTING ME IN?!" Lexa cried. "HOW MUCH DANGER YOU COULD BE PUTTING THIS ENTIRE HOSPITAL AND WIZARDING WORLD IN?!"

Draco snickered at the shocked look on Hermione's face. It took a lot to make the Golden Trio heroine look scared, so he loved it when she was being scolded by her scrawny, neurotic Healer mentor (who was only 16 years old since she never aged).

Hermione grabbed Lexa's wrists and struggled to loosen her grip on her shoulders. "Lexa, please let me go! I already explained to you that Tom Riddle claimed that he needs his magic in order to apparate back and forth from Barren Island."

Draco raised his eyebrows. Now that was something he would have never expected to hear. Tom Riddle, like all the patients in this hospital, was infected with the Zenox virus, a virus that integrates its genome into the wizarding gene, consequently suppressing the gene's effect. Any infected wizard would be as powerless as a muggle, unable to use any magic. At the same time, when the Zenox virus genome was inserted, it would stimulate replication of its genome so that it would release many new Zenox viruses from the cell it was inserted in. Many of those replicated viruses functioned to freeze the blood, cause hallucinations, and destroy white blood cells so that the infected wizard would have a crippled immune system, unable to fight against the blood-freezing pathogens.

It was theorized that the Zenox virus originated from an ice dragon sleeping on a snowy island called the Barren Island, so when the Zenox virus managed to freeze a wizard's blood and prevent the wizard from using any magic or immunological responses, the viruses would teleport the wizard to the Barren Island. It was unknown what happened to the wizards there, because every time Healers tried to track down the missing wizards, the magic would wear off after a few minutes of the wizard's arrival on the island.

Draco listened carefully to the bickering Healers in Snape's room. If Tom Riddle was somehow able to use magic to teleport himself out of Barren Island, that could prove very useful to rescuing the missing infected wizards who were unexpectedly teleported there.

"AGH!" Lexa threw her head back. "I've never heard such nonsense! Your patient is lying to you, Hermione. HE'S LYING! Tom Riddle cannot disapparate away from Barren Island if he was infected with the Zenox virus, because the first thing that virus does is suppress the wizarding gene. Then it replicates itself enough so that there are enough viruses to freeze the blood and prevent the immune system from stopping them. Then the viruses teleport the wizard to the Barren Island! The infected wizard cannot escape by disapparating away from the island, because he cannot use magic!" Lexa leaned closer to Hermione. "And even if he could use magic, he probably wouldn't be able to disapparate anyway. The blizzard on that island seems to be erasing any magical tracking spells we've tried to use on our patients before the viruses teleported them there. Either Tom is lying to you about his escape from Barren Island, or he was able to use some…sketchy dark magic that might be a danger to us all." She stomped her foot. "WHICH IS WHY I TOLD YOU TO INJECT HIM WITH THAT ANTISORCERY SERUM!"

Hermione wriggled free from Lexa's grip. "Look, I didn't say I would never inject him with that serum. I just said that he told me he needed his magic, in case I agreed to accompany him when he tries to apparate back to Barren Island. Now that he's seen it before and escaped, he says he's able to apparate back there, and with a Healer like myself accompanying him, I could heal the missing infected wizards on that island, curing them of Zenox so that they can apparate themselves back to where they belong."

"What if he's trying to trap you?!" Lexa retorted. "If he says he was able to use his magic and apparate out of the island, why wasn't he able to go back, find the missing wizards on the island, and then apparate back to this hospital with them?"

"He claimed that he was unable to do so because those wizards still had a very high viral load in their blood," said Hermione. "I guess he needs a Healer like me to perform the spells to decrease their viral load enough so that they can be able to apparate out themselves, or at least be able to apparate with another wizard like himself."

A brief moment of silence passed between them. Then Lexa huffed. "Tom's viral load is pretty low now, right?"

Hermione nodded. "He's still very weak and sickly, though, because his immune system is still crippled from all the white blood cell destruction caused by the virus. I've been performing immunological spells on him, but for some reason, the white blood cells are taking a very long time to regenerate. This virus really does leave some pretty damaging aftereffects."

Lexa spun around and stomped out of the room. "I'll go check on him right now."

Draco backed away from the door, feeling relieved when Lexa stomped in the other direction down the hall before noticing him. Then Draco stepped into the room and met Hermione's gaze.

"Oh, wonderful," Hermione's tone was bitter. "Enjoyed eavesdropping again, Malfoy?"

Draco smirked and forced himself to sound sardonic. "The brightest witch of her age should _never_ let herself be tricked by someone who was formerly the most dangerous wizard in history."

Hermione rolled her eyes, grabbed her clipboard with all her patient notes of Snape's medical progress, and shouldered passed Draco. "Mind your own business, Malfoy," she stopped before she stepped out the room and looked over her shoulder to glare at Draco. "You hate me now, so you shouldn't even be concerned with anything that's going on between me and my patients." And she left the room.

Draco stared in her direction, feeling a sharp pang of hurt. He stood there silently, lost in thought, feeling confused, frustrated, and hopeless. _You're right Granger…_ he thought bitterly. _I really shouldn't be concerned with whatever you're doing with your patients, even if they include the Weasel King or the former nose-less man._ Draco rubbed his eyes with frustration. He shouldn't be feeling anything for her. At least, not anymore. Not after what they had been through during the few years after Potterhead had defeated Voldemort.

So then why did his heart cringe with guilt every time he made fun of her, neglected her, or heard about anything she was doing with the Weasel King or Tom Riddle? He didn't _want_ to want her. He didn't want to feel this way. But somehow, every time he tried to ignore or suppress his feelings by being the rude, spiteful git that he had been back at Hogwarts, he felt more and more angry with himself. Each attempt to avoid her or be spiteful toward her became more and more of an effort.

"Have you got anything useful to do for me while you are loitering in my room, Mr. Malfoy?"

Draco flinched at the sound of Snape's voice. He turned to see the dark-haired man awake and staring at him with a tired frown on his face. The former Dark Arts professor continued to speak in his flat, bitter tone. "I believe one of the ethical pillars that all Healers ought to fulfill is respect for the patient, is it not?"

"Sorry, Snape. Sir," Draco stuttered. "I just…I overheard Lexa and Granger yelling at each other about Tom Riddle and I couldn't help listening in."

Snape rolled his eyes. "I'm behind on catching up with my sleep, thanks to their repulsive bickering."

Draco gazed at his godfather. He stepped forward and spoke carefully. "Sir, do you think Tom Riddle is up to no good?"

Snape looked up at Draco as he stood by his bedside. "The Tom Riddle that is Granger's patient is quite a peculiar man. He's nothing like the Voldemort that Lucius brought back with the Organink Wand, and he's nothing like the Tom Riddle that became the Voldemort who was killed by Potter." He turned to face forward with a distant look in his eyes. "It's hard to say."

Draco nodded. "Hermione has feelings for him, even though she's trying to deny it."

Snape turned back to Draco with a raised eyebrow. "And you're telling me because…?"

Draco's heart raced. He realized what he had just said, and cursed himself. "Um, well, it's concerning, isn't it? falling in love with a man who's supposed to turn out to be the Dark Lord. I mean…my father used Organink Potion to write Tom's biography, and then brought him to life in this world with the Organink Wand. Whatever was written in Organink Potion about Tom will come true sometime during Tom's life in this world, so if my father wrote his biography to be exactly the way the former Tom Riddle's biography was to be, then this man is literally the same man who became the Dark Lord."

Snape gave a quiet snort of disgust. "Right, that's what Lucius told me. But apparently, Miss Granger claims that Tom Riddle vows to never live up to the horrible things that were written about his life. According to her, he believes in free choice so strongly, that he thinks he can overcome the magic in the Organink Potion and live his life the way he wants to live it, regardless of what was written about him in Organink Potion."

Draco blinked. "Has Granger ever talked to you about him?"

"Miss Granger and I do not have a cordial relationship," remarked Snape. "We do not share any information with each other, unless it concerns my medical condition. I've only heard about these things from the petty conversations between Lexa and Hermione, since I'm always the next patient they choose to see after checking on Tom." Then he raised his eyebrows at Draco. "You love her, don't you?"

"What?!" Draco widened his eyes. "I don't love her! I would never love a mudblood!"

Snape let another awkward moment of silence pass as he stared at Draco in the eye. When Draco got uncomfortable and looked away, Snape broke the silence. "You love her. You're asking me about Tom, not only because you're concerned about his fate, but because you're concerned about what his fate would mean for Hermione. Tom may have claimed that he isn't interested in pursuing a romantic relationship in this new life of his, but you can never go by what people say to know how they really feel. You're already a good example of that."

Draco opened his mouth to object, but then stopped. Snape's eyes bore into him, and he knew any attempt to hide his feelings from the man would be futile. "Y-you're not performing the Legilimency Spell on me, are you?"

The corner of Snape's lip twitched. "I don't need to, Mr. Malfoy. But _you_ will." He leaned closer. "Come back in a few hours, after I catch up on some sleep and restore my energy. I can teach you how you can perform the Legilimency Spell, so that you can read into Tom's mind and find out what he's really up to. As well as how he really feels about Miss Granger."


	7. A Flashing Ring

"Hey, Lovegood!" Draco plopped his tray in front of Luna at the hospital food court. "I need you to do me a favor."

Luna looked up from the stack of paperwork she was filling out. "Sure, Draco. What do you—"

"Can you ask my father to give you copies of Tom Riddle's biography written in Organink Potion?" Draco cut her off and spoke quickly. "I need to see what exactly Tom is destined for, and the only way I can do that is to look at what my father wrote about him in Organink Potion."

Luna blinked. "Why don't you ask Lucius Malfoy yourself?" She inquired. "He _is_ your father."

Draco rolled his eyes and abruptly tore the wrapper off his sandwich. "Ever since that bastard used the Organink Wand to bring back Voldemort and former Death Eaters back into this world by writing about their biographies and character descriptions with Organink Potion, I have had no father."

"Well…Lucius was just following orders from Umbridge," Luna reminded him calmly. "She freed him from Azkaban, and it was either his death or his loyalty to her."

Draco snorted. He didn't want to be reminded of the past. "Ask him to hand you over the copy he had written about Tom Riddle. Anything he wrote in Organink Potion about Tom will be destined to happen to Tom. So if he wrote that Tom will be the Dark Lord who will take over the Wizarding World with the same ambitions, ideologies, and goals as Voldemort, then we're in shit trouble."

"Hermione says Tom doesn't believe that the Organink Potion is all that powerful," said Luna. "According to her, Tom believes strongly in free will, so regardless of what was written about him, he believes he can overcome that and live his life the way he wants to."

Draco sighed. He got up and took his tray, completely losing his appetite. "I didn't join you to be reminded of the wistful things Granger has said about that prat. I came to request for something important from my father since he's your patient, but if you're not going to help, then I'm wasting my time." He turned and made his way to trash can. As he dumped everything on his tray, he heard a soft call from Luna.

"Draco?" The former Ravenclaw was watching him. When Draco looked over his shoulder to meet her gaze, she stared at him for an awkward few seconds, and then spoke. "I'll go talk to Lucius. I'll try my best."

Draco gave a curt nod. "Great. Thank you." He turned to head over to see his next patient, but bumped into someone.

"Oof!" The person nearly stumbled over, even though the collision wasn't that harsh.

"Astoria?" Draco flinched at the sight of the tall, raven-haired lady who was one of his other patients. "What are you doing here? You should be resting in the ICU!"

Astoria met his gaze and gave a small, sideways smile. "Galvin said I was getting better, so I thought I'd venture down here for some tea," she spoke in her smooth, murmuring voice.

Draco blinked. Since Galvin Barkson was his Healer mentor, Galvin was also responsible for the same patients Draco was responsible for. He kept forgetting that he wasn't the only Healer his patients were seeing. "Right. Well, that's great. Stay healthy." He stepped around her and walked away, but she called after him.

"Draco?"

Draco rolled his eyes and stopped. How many more times will he delay seeing his next patient? He was itching to see Blaise Zabini for a follow-up on his Zenox infection recovery, as well as any updates about the Auror Department. They were currently investigating the new thief who had stolen the Organink Wand and Organink Potion.

When Draco met Astoria's faded green eyes, he suddenly felt a pang of pity. She was his frailest and sickest patient, and he was reminded of how much he had been fearing for her life as she stayed in the ICU. He feared the day when the Zenox viruses in her bloodstream would teleport her to Barren Island, where she would never be seen again. Luckily, her viral load hadn't reached 500ul/ml, which seemed to be the load that most of the infected wizards had before they had disappeared.

"Yes, Astoria?" He didn't even notice how soft his voice had gotten as he spoke.

"Promise me you'll make an extra visit tonight before you leave the hospital?" She murmured. "There's…there's something I need to talk to you about."

A million thoughts raced through Draco's head. He had a hunch she wanted to talk about the status of their relationship, which had been unclear for both of them. He had been rather touchy and flirty with her, lightening her up from her typical gloomy mood whenever he came to check on her in the ICU. But he never considered her as an official girlfriend. Even before her illness, Astoria had always been a detached, lonely woman who always kept to herself, but she would always lighten up a bit whenever Draco was around. And Draco loved the idea of being the only person who was the source of her happiness. But deep down, Draco knew he wasn't in love with her.

Deep down, he knew he was just extracting pleasure from Astoria's fondness for him, just to distract himself from Granger. Aside from Blaise, Galvin, and Snape, all his friends and hospital colleagues thought he hated Hermione after what they had been through several years ago, before their Healer training. But that's what he wanted them to think. And that was what he wanted himself to think. But eventually, he would have to stop using Astoria as a distraction. It wasn't fair to her, and it wasn't healthy for him either.

"Draco?" Astoria's smooth voice interrupted him from his thoughts. "Did—did you hear me?"

He realized he had just been standing there, lost in thought, after she had asked him to visit her. He blinked a couple times and looked to the floor, scratching the back of his head. "Oh, yeah, of course, Astoria. I'd be happy to talk to you." He met her gaze, and felt relieved when she was slightly smiling.

"Thank you….I'll see you later then…" she looked down for a few seconds, and then turned to walk away.

Draco watched her leave, and then sighed. He turned to walk toward the hallway, only to step on something shiny. Frowning, Draco saw that it was a ring. A silver ring. He bent down to pick it up. But as soon as his fingers came into contact with it, a bunch of images suddenly flashed through his mind. He saw a flat, snowy landscape in the midst of an intense blizzard.

Then the images disappeared as soon as he jerked his hand back from the ring.

Draco panted, staring down at the ring with wide eyes. He slowly reached for it again, only to get another flash of images in his mind. He saw a twister of snow form in a dark sky. Three wizards were running away, screaming as the blizzard worsened and blew their bodies toward the twister.

The images disappeared as Draco jerked away from the ring again.

"What in the name of Merlin…" Draco's heart was racing. "Did I…did I just envision Barren Island?" Those wizards must be only a handful of the infected wizards who had been unexpectedly teleported to the island. Draco had to discuss this with someone. He looked around, grabbed a napkin atop the trash can, and picked up the ring in the napkin. He slipped it into the pocket of his white coat, and then fast-walked to see his next patient. _Good thing I'm seeing Blaise right now. This will surely be something useful to discuss._


	8. Giant Dragonflies Spit Sparkling Saliva

"The Sparkling Salivators are coming!" Cried Lexa, looking out the window of Ron's room in the ICU.

Hermione stood beside her Healer mentor and stared at the sky. A swarm of nine-foot-long dragonflies filled up the sky. They were spitting sparkling saliva at the buildings below, and every building that got splattered with saliva would sizzle intensely before crumbling to the ground.

"Their saliva is like acid," muttered Hermione. "Very, very intense acid. I read about these things in M.B.'s Genotopia book."

Ron rolled his eyes and groaned. "Damn M.B. for making up creatures like these."

Hermione looked over her shoulder and frowned. "Hey, that's my lab partner you're talking about. It's not her fault—it's the thief's fault for stealing her Organink Wand and bringing those things to this world."

Lexa spun around and raced out the door. "We have to release our Acidifier Dragons! Only they can withstand those dragonflies' saliva!"

Hermione followed after her mentor.

"Wait, Hermione!" Ron called. "You said you would stay here to talk with me about our engagement!"

Hermione whirled around to glare at Ron. "We are not engaged, Ron! I called it off years ago, and there's no second chance!"

"At least talk to me about it! You promised you would at least stay here and discuss it with me this afternoon!"

A loud crash sounded from outside as another building crumbled to the ground. Hermione flinched and threw her hands toward the window. "Uh, Ron?! Hello?! The city is under attack and I've got to help?"

"Please," Ron scoffed. "What could you possibly do to help? Men ride the dragons to fight those disease-carrying dragonflies, while women are only supposed to feed and nurture them."

Hermione stomped up to Ron and glowered down at him on his bed, fists clenched. If he wasn't as sick as he was, she would have grabbed the neck of his shirt to shake him. Ron shrunk under her intimidating glare.

"Well Ron," Hermione spoke in a casual tone, though her face looked like she was ready to kill. "Despite the sexism implied in your comment about the roles of men and women with the dragons, I just want to point out that women are still playing an equally important, if not more important, role than the men here. Think about it: caring and feeding the dragons is a heck of a lot more necessary and essential than just riding them. So sure, there may have been a gender segregation here, but it isn't really a bad thing- at least not in this case." She turned and walked away, but continued to speak. "There _are_ contexts in which the gender segregation is just discriminatory and unreasonable, but here, I would say that the segregation actually makes the women look more useful—if society is willing to accept that caring and feeding the dragons is more or equally useful as riding them."


	9. Hermione Hates Humanity

Hermione sat in a chair beside Ron's hospital bed. "Alright Ron, I finished fighting off those Sparkling Salivators. So now we can have our stupid talk, even though there really isn't anything useful to talk about."

Hermione had already made it clear that she wanted to have nothing do with Ron, and that his flirtatious behavior whenever she would check on him in the ICU for follow-ups had turned her off even more. But Ron was still gazing at Hermione with his sickly, but pleading, eyes.

"Please, Hermione," his voice was meek, but she could tell he was forcing himself to sound even weaker and more pitiful. "Perhaps if you listen to _why_ I broke up with Pansy, you can reconsider."

"I will never reconsider, but go ahead and explain," she glanced at her watch and mumbled, "The quicker you spill everything out, the quicker I can move onto my next patient."

Ron sighed. "Well, Pansy and I had a great time when we were dating three years ago, right after you inconsiderately decided to call off our engagement. But looking back, I realize we only had a great time because we were good with each other in bed. We had lots of sex and touchy-feely moments, which gave each other sooo much pleasure throughout our relationship."

Hermione wrinkled her nose in disgust. But she bit back her urge to express her disgust, just to speed up the time she was taking up.

Ron went on, "Besides all the sex and physical closeness, we also got closer through communicating with each other. However, even our communication was based off of our physical attraction to each other. We would sex-talk each other and engage in lots of sexting. There was barely anything else that we could get into a deep conversation about."

Hermione snorted. "So you really didn't get closer through communicating with each other."

"Exactly," said Ron. "Pansy is that way, I guess. She admits that she was that way when she and Draco dated back in Hogwarts."

Hermione crossed her arms, her eyes raised. "Yes, well, if the only way two people can get closer is by having lots of sex and talking only about erotic shit, then those two people definitely should not be in a relationship with each other. It's wrong—morally wrong—even if both people in the relationship are okay with it. No one should be okay with using another person as an object, no one should be okay with _being used_ as an object."

"You're absolutely right, Mione," said Ron. "See, it took me until now to realize that. Even after I broke up with Pansy several months back, just to show how dedicated I was to get back with you, I still didn't think this through. But now, I've realized why Pansy and I weren't right for each other, and why you and I would be great together. While Pansy and I could only connect by having lots of physical activity and sex-talk, you and I were able to connect by having deep conversations about each other's lives and beliefs."

Hermione laughed and stood up. "Oh Ron, you and I did have conversations that weren't erotic in any way, but we certainly didn't have any 'deep' conversations. You would either get bored or confused whenever I tried to bring up any deep, philosophical topics, or anything that had to do with science. So you and I are not good for each other, either." She turned to start walking to the door. "Now if you please excuse me, I have to follow-up on Tom Riddle."

Ron moaned. "Mione, pleeease. I can change! I can be even better at philosophical discussions than that Tom Riddle!"

"Please don't, Ron," Hermione looked over her shoulder as she stood at the door. "If you have to change who you are in order to make a relationship work with another person, then that's another reason why you shouldn't be in that relationship." She bit her lip and looked away. "And don't ever say you'll be better than Tom Riddle at intellectual discussions. You haven't even met him in person yet. I, as his Healer, have gotten to know him very well, and I know for a fact that you can never be like him." She continued to walk, and then shut the door behind her.

Angry thoughts raced through her mind as Hermione fast-walked through the hospital halls. _I swear, I hate humanity. It's all about sex, money, and superficial pleasure._ Then she approached the door of Tom Riddle and then she felt a sudden sense of calm. _Well…I guess "hate" isn't the right word…_ She did care for humanity. That was the whole reason why she chose to be the Healer she was now. She cared for people, even people like Tom Riddle. And her ex-fiancé, Ron. Hermione had told herself that she would take care of any human being, not because she liked every single person on the planet, but because she knew it was the right thing to do.


	10. A Frog in the Hospital

Ron spit out his dose of liquidized Zenoxide. "Bloody hell! There's a frog in my medicine!"

Hermione whirled around from the desktop EMR, her eyes wide. A black frog with bright-green spots was swimming in the bottle of liquid Zenoxide on the stand beside Ron's hospital bed. It was no larger than a three-year-old's fist

Hermione whipped out her wand and aimed it at the frog, but before she could make a sound, the frog instantly disappeared, leaving traces of a thick, black substance lingering in the purple liquid Zenoxide.

Ron pointed toward Hermione's chest. "Mione! It's on your coat!"

Hermione screamed at the sight of the frog in her left coat pocket. The frog hopped out, landed on the wall to Hermione's right, and hopped toward the ceiling corner where it disappeared into a vent.

"Oh, great!" Hermione threw her hands in the air. "There's a teleporting frog lost in this hospital, and I have no idea how it could have affected your liquified Zenoxide." She stomped toward the exit of Ron's room. "I've got to tell Zeff and Milette Barkson."

"Am I going to die?" Ron's voice quivered.

"I'll make sure you won't."

Ron gave a meek smile. "Aw thanks, Hermione."

Hermione shot him a glare before she walked out the door. "Don't get your hopes up, Ron."

When she got to Milette's office, she flinched at the sight of Draco. The pale-haired Healer trainee was speaking to Milette, who was gazing up at him from her desk, eying him through her sharp cat-eye glasses. Her expression remained emotionless and unreadable, as always.

"I saw it, Dr. Barkson," said Draco, sounding shocked. "It was black with bright-green spots, and it was hopping along the walls of the men's bathroom. I tried to use a bunch of spells on it, but apparently, it seemed to be resistant to magic!"

Hermione's heart raced. So Draco had also seen that frog. She stepped forward, nodding at Milette. "That frog was also in Ron's liquified Zenoxide bottle. And it teleported itself out of it and got into the vent."

Draco flinched as he noticed Hermione standing behind him.

Milette rolled her eyes. "Ugh," she spoke in her bland, nonchalant tone. "The creature you describe sounds like a Telefrog."

Hermione raised her eyebrows. "Another genopet from M.B.'s Genotopia book?"

Milette nodded. "But Telefrogs can only teleport within two acres. And if you say this frog had bright-green spots, that means it must have never been exposed to sunlight."

Hermione gasped. "Which means whoever brought the frog into this world from that book must be…in this hospital."

Draco nodded. "And whoever brought it into this hospital must have written in Organink Potion that it would be resistant to our magic." Anything that was brought to life by the Organink Wand would fulfill anything that was written in Organink Potion about itself.

Milette chuckled drily and crossed her arms. "Hmph. Be careful when you break this news to Lexa. You know who she's going to be blaming."

"Tom Riddle," Hermione and Draco spoke at the same time.

Hermione looked to the floor, feeling that tingling sensation in her stomach as she spoke her patient's name. "Lexa thinks Tom is secretly in love with me, so she thinks he's trying to kill Ron for trying to win back my affection. She secretly blames Tom for anything that goes wrong with Ron's health."

Milette smirked. "Ah. How cute. That definitely sounds like my daughter."

Hermione clenched her fists. "She's completely wrong! Tom does not love me!"

Draco scoffed turned to Hermione with a scowl. "You obviously love him, though," his tone was sardonic. "You sure you're not the one who's trying to poison your ex-fiancé patient?"

Hermione faced Draco, glaring daggers at him. "If there's anyone I would ever poison, I would be poisoning _you_."

Milette's studious eyes shifted from Hermione, to Draco, and back to Hermione. The tall, thin lady was still smirking as she adjusted her cat-eye glasses and spoke in her quiet, emotionless tone. "Dr. Granger. I believe there is some truth to Dr. Malfoy's words there. You didn't deny that you love Tom."

Hermione's heart skipped a beat. She faced the senior Healer with her glowering expression, but was speechless.

Milette chuckled drily again and continued speaking. "No need to be shy about it, Dr. Granger. I've spoken to Tom Riddle a few times. Quite a charming and deep-thinking young man." She raised her eyebrows and peered at Hermione over her glasses. "If I were your age, I would have felt the same way you did: turned on by his intellectual prowess, but also guilty for developing such feelings for my own patient who may potentially be a threat to society."

Hermione blinked. Milette had always appeared prim, standoffish, and irritable. Her dry, emotionless voice just enhanced her aloof impression. Hermione had never expected this lady to expose any relatable qualities with her, especially if it had to do with romance.

Draco gave a small snicker, but Hermione could tell he was trying to hold himself back from laughing out loud. He was also taken aback by Milette's comment.

Milette's eyes shifted across both of them again, clearly noticing their surprise. But she didn't take that smirk off her face. "Don't feel pressured to keep my words a secret from Zeff. Trust me, my husband is used to having me blatantly voice my opinions about other men's attractiveness."

Draco smirked back at the lady. "Hey, honesty is the best policy, right?"

Milette turned to Draco and winked at him. "Says the man who was formerly a Slytherin."

Draco chuckled. "What? We Slytherins can be honest when we need to be. I'm sure Granger here believes that as well, considering she's clearly falling for her own patient, who is a Slytherin and claims that he doesn't love her."

Hermione bit her lip and found herself blushing. She couldn't deny that. It was true: she wanted so badly for Tom to be telling the truth about how he really felt about her. If he didn't love her, he would have no reason to be secretly plotting to kill Ron. At least, not solely Ron.

Milette chortled. "Well, we'll figure out who's behind all of this once we catch that frog. I'll send my Yapillon, Plutarco, to track it down."

Hermione and Draco both widened their eyes.

"Wait a minute, Dr. Barkson, you can't do that," said Draco.

Hermione shook her head. "Those Yapillons are going to be spitting Amorabloom Pollen at me and Malfoy, and we're going to be involuntarily in love with each other again. The last thing I need is to have uncontrollable feelings of passion for someone I totally despise!"

The side of Milette's lip twitched. "Hmm. Well, might I remind you that Telefrogs are extremely poisonous, and in our world, they teleport to different parts of the body to spread their poison. So unless you want to risk killing all the patients in this hospital, you two should just do your best to avoid Plutarco once I have him scouting this hospital."

Draco rolled his eyes. "I wouldn't mind letting the frog kill off Tom Riddle, or whoever's responsible for its presence."

"Hey," Milette raised an eyebrow at Draco. "Take care of people, not because you like them, but because it's the right thing to do."

Hermione clenched her teeth. _I should keep telling myself that when I'm dealing with Ron._

She and Draco left Milette's office, both of them looking wary.

"Huh," Draco muttered as they stepped into an elevator together. "Looks like we'll be facing some throwback struggles with each other, Granger."

Hermione huffed as the elevator ascended. "Good thing our patients are scattered around the hospital and not within close proximity of one another. Hopefully that'll make it more difficult for Plutarco to try and force us to be together in the midst of his Amorabloom Pollen."

Draco scoffed. "Or you can tell your boyfriend-patient, Riddle, to try and use his secret magic to make Plutarco averse to your presence."

"Tom Riddle is not my boyfriend!" Hermione grabbed her head with frustration. Then she thought about what the rest of what Draco just said. "Wait, but he can still use magic…so that's a great idea! I can have him strike both of us with a spell that will make Plutarco averse to both of us!" Hermione nudged Draco. "Thanks, Malfoy. I'm glad you're just as dedicated to avoiding each other as I am."

Draco said nothing. His remained scowling, but deep down inside, he felt a stinging sense of frustration and longing. _Why does it have to be so difficult to avoid you, Granger?_ His own thoughts were frustrating him. _Why does it have to be so difficult to WANT to avoid you?_


	11. The Anti-Puppy Charm

Draco followed Hermione out of the elevator, thankful to be free from their awkward elevator moment. They made their way across the halls of the ICU toward Tom Riddle's room, ready to have him cast a spell that would ensure they would be resistant to the genetically-modified puppy that would have otherwise forced Hermione and Draco to involuntarily fall in love with each other.

"So is this Tom Riddle really as sweet and conversational as you make him sound?" Draco spoke in a sneering tone.

Hermione laughed. "Gee Malfoy, for someone who blatantly hates me these days, you sure seem to know a lot about my interactions with my patients."

Draco scoffed. "It's not like I'm asking for any information about you. I can't help it if people gossip too much."

Hermione opened the door to Tom Riddle's room. Draco suddenly felt uncomfortable as he laid eyes on the man who was destined to be Voldemort. He looked just like the young Tom Riddle he had seen in photos his father had shown him. Except this Tom Riddle looked so pale that he could have almost been a ghost.

Draco watched Hermione step inside and greet Tom with a friendly "good evening" and a hug.

Since when do Healers hug their patients? Especially if their patients were in the ICU?

Draco found himself feeling a sharp pang of jealousy, mixed with frustration. He backed away from the door so that he was standing to the side of the room, unable to be seen by Hermione and Tom. He had heard countless times from other Healers that Hermione was in love with Tom, but that Tom only loved her as a friend, possibly even as a sister. But then Ron's health seemed to be getting worse and worse, despite healing attempts that had worked completely well on other patients with his exact conditions.

Draco rubbed his temples as his thoughts raced through his head. _According to the rumors, Tom is secretly in love with Hermione, and is therefore secretly trying to kill Ron since that Weasel King has been trying to win Hermione's affection back. Of course, there is no way to prove that is true…._ Draco rubbed his eyes. He couldn't get these thoughts out of his head, even though he had already been thinking about them over and over again. _Even if the rumors are true, even of Tom really is in love with Granger and is trying to kill anyone who tries to win her affection, there's nothing I should be worrying about. It's not like he's going to start trying to secretly kill me….because as of right now, the whole hospital thinks that I hate Granger._ His face twisted with frustration as he realized how important it was that he continue to hide his true feelings for Hermione and pretend to hate her. Not only was it important for his own ego, but it was important for his own survival…if Tom was secretly in love with Granger and was secretly performing secret spells to murder others who were in love with Granger.

That bastard better not be secretly in love with Granger.

Then Draco clenched his fists and banged against the wall. _Dammit, stop feeling this way,_ he was yelling at himself in his thoughts. _You are NOT in love with her, and you are not jealous of her potentially murderous patient! YOU ARE NOT IN LOVE WITH HERMIONE FUCKING GRANGER!_

"Draco?"

Draco flinched at the sound of Hermione's voice. He looked up and saw her peeking out of Tom's room.

"Are you alright?" Hermione was gazing at him with a raised eyebrow.

Draco blinked and forced himself to frown at her. "Of course, I—I was just checking if there was any sign of that Yapillon puppy out here. Now come on, let's get this over with before that pup tracks us down and breathes Amorabloom Pollen around us." He shouldered passed Hermione and stepped in the room.

Again, that sudden feeling of discomfort overwhelmed Draco as soon as he laid eyes on Tom Riddle, who was now locking eyes with him. Draco was able to get a better view of the patient—besides the ghost-white sickliness of his skin, Tom Riddle also had brittle dark hair and cheekbones that were so distinguishable that they made the skin on his face look like it was going to waste away. His eye sockets appeared hollow, making him almost look like a skeleton.

 _And the rumors say Hermione is in love with this patient?_ Draco's expression was vacant as he stood there, speechless. To think that this was a man destined to be the same monster that took over the wizarding world seven years ago…

"Hello, Dr. Malfoy," Tom's voice was surprisingly smooth, but it was still enough to significantly increase Draco's heart rate. The sickly young man gave him a small, weak smile. "Hermione told me you are the son of the man that brought me back into this world."

Draco forced himself not to gulp. He still hated to think that Lucius Malfoy was the wizard who had used the Organink Wand to bring this man into this world, specifically by stealing Organink Potion, writing Tom Riddle's biography with the potion, and then using the wand to bring him to life, based on what was written in that biography. Draco nodded and managed to speak in a casual tone. "Yep. Unfortunately."

Tom nodded back. There was no hint of malice in those dark-brown eyes as the young man spoke in his calm voice. "No judgment here, Dr. Malfoy. I understand that there are certain characteristics about ourselves that we didn't choose to inherit."

Draco's jaw tightened. Obviously, Tom was referring to himself. Whatever was written about him in Organink Potion was meant to happen sometime while he was alive in this world.

Hermione chuckled and walked over to his bedside. "Tom, you've told me many times that you don't believe in fate. Any unwanted, unintentional characteristics about yourself could be overridden if you work hard enough at it."

Tom turned to his Healer and returned her smile. "Of course, Dr. Granger. But it depends on the characteristic. My 'destiny' to become Dark Lord is something that is governed by my own choices, ideologies, and intentions. I can control the choices, ideologies, and intentions I have, so I can surely override whatever Lucius had written about me. However…" he turned to Draco with a serious and understanding expression. His tone became more careful and wary. "…it would be impossible to erase the fact that Lucius is Draco's father. That's a characteristic Dr. Malfoy can never exactly override."

Draco looked away and chuckled. "Hmm. Yes, well, there are some things in life that we can overcome, and some things that we just have to accept and deal with."

Tom nodded, smiling again. "Wise words, Dr. Malfoy." His gaze shifted from Hermione and then back to Draco. "Anyways, you two are here for a spell you'd like me to perform?"

Hermione nodded. "Ugh, yes please, if you don't mind. Dr. Milette Barkson is going to have her Yapillon dog, Plutarco, scout this building for the poisonous Telefrog that's teleporting all over the hospital. And all of the Barksons' Yapillons have this tendency to elicit Amorabloom Pollen around me and Draco, forcing us to feel this intense romantic passion for each other." She shot Draco a look of disgust, which he forced himself to return. "We do NOT want that to happen between us."

"Yeah," said Draco, scowling at her. "It's disgusting to be forced to feel romantic feelings for someone you genuinely do not love—someone you actually genuinely _hate._ " He turned away from her to meet Tom's gaze, hoping with all his might that the patient wasn't able to detect lies or any hidden romantic feelings Draco himself still harbored.

Luckily, Tom's expression remained calm and peaceful. The dark-haired man nodded. "You two have a sound reason to request this spell, then," he said. "I can perform the Antiaroma Charm, which will instill a new scent on every hair follicle on your body. The antiaroma scent from your hair follicles will erase any effect of any emotion-inducing odor, or any odor meant to effect the neurochemistry of your brains."

"That's perfect!" Hermione exclaimed. "Let's do it!"

Later that night, Draco was leaving the hospital with Galvin Barkson. He walked with his Healer mentor down the stairs of the hospital.

"Ah, that's nothing, man!" Galvin gave Draco a hearty nudge after he had told him about the Antiaroma Charm that Tom had performed on him and Hermione. "You still have _real_ feelings for that Hermione, so it makes no difference if you two are surrounded in Amorabloom Pollen or not!"

"Shh!" Draco hissed. "Dammit, Galvin, can you speak more quietly?! You, Blaise, and Snape are still the only ones in this hospital who know how I really feel around that mudblood."

"Ay, speaking of Snape," Galvin raised his eyebrows, "he taught you the Legilimency Spell, right? Did you get to use it on Tom while you were in his room? To find out if he really has feelings for Hermione?"

"No, I was scared outta my guts in there."

"Draco, man!" Galvin threw his hands up. "Come on! That was the perfect time!"

Draco shook his head, feeling his face heat up. "No, not at all."

"Why, was Tom acting creepy? 'Cause I've visited him before, and he seems like the most approachable patient ever."

"No, there was nothing about his behavior that was suspicious," snapped Draco. "It's just the possibility that he could be more powerful than we think. What if he feels it when I performed the Legilimency Spell on him? He might be secretly furious." Draco widened his eyes. "Heck, he might have used the Legilimency Spell on me, without me knowing it! He might know about how I feel about Hermione now, despite my spitefulness and outright claim that I hate the mudbood."

"Dude, you're right, you could be in danger now," Galvin muttered. "Damn, I can't have my best Healer trainee in danger! Draco, you better watch out for your life—if Tom is really in love with Hermione and is responsible for Ron's declining health and failed treatments, he could try to do the same to you!"

"Only if he actually loves Granger. There's still so much we don't know about this guy."

"Right, which is why you should use that Legi Spell, or whatever you call it, as soon as possible! If you find that he loves her and is now plotting against you, we gotta report him to the Auror Department."


	12. When Patients Refuse to Listen

Draco took a deep breath before stepping into Bellatrix Lestrange's room. He always dreaded his appointments with his estranged aunt and former righthand woman to Voldemort. _Merlin, curse my father for bringing her back into this world._ Draco knocked twice before opening the door.

Bellatrix was lying on her hospital bed, clawing out some fluff from one of her pillows. She was obviously bored.

She looked across the room to see Draco walking up to her hospital bed. "Drakey, darling! How wonderful to see you!"

"Good morning, Auntie Bella," Draco nodded. She had demanded that he address her as "Auntie Bella," most likely to boost her ego while she was stuck as a sick witch in a confined hospital room. "Are the Zenoxide pills working better on you now?"

"'Bout as good as they can get," Bellatrix tossed her torn, bedraggled pillow to the floor. "Hey, do me a favor and get me some more of those pillows—I've finally found something better to keep me occupied in this hellhole. It's much more fun than doodling on the wall!"

Draco glanced at the wall behind her and to her left. They were covered with doodles of Voldemort, Voldemort's name, and the most disturbing phrases describing herself and Voldemort together. He looked away from the disturbing scribbles and turned to meet her smirking face. "Yes, I'll see if I can get you more of those. But anyway, how is that headache of yours? Do you need me to perform anymore Mantra Charms?"

"Naw, I'm all good," Bellatrix gave a casual swat in his direction.

"Great," said Draco. "I'll go and ask Galvin if there are any…unneeded pillows in this hospital."

"Drakey, darling! Wait!" Bellatrix's shriek made Draco spin back around to face her.

"Yes, Auntie?" He felt uneasy as he saw that her face had that typical seductive sideways smile she always wore whenever she was trying to flirt with Voldemort.

Bellatrix sat up and leaned forward on her palms. "I hear that Tom Riddle performed the Antiaroma Charm on you and that disgusting mudblood, am I right?"

Draco's heart raced. He hated it whenever Bellatrix brought up her questions about Tom Riddle. The woman hadn't met him in person yet, but she was still obsessed about him. "Um…yes, Auntie Bella. The Head Healer of this hospital has her Yapillon dog scouting this hospital for a poisonous teleporting frog, and that Yapillon dog has the tendency to exhale Amorabloom Pollen at Granger and me, which will force us to feel these uncontrollable romantic feelings for each other. So Tom Riddle was nice enough to perform the Antiaroma Charm on us so that we would be unaffected by the Amorabloom Pollen."

"Did you find out if he truly loves that mudblood?"

Draco scowled. "No! How in the world would I be able to do that?"

"By performing the Legilimency Curse on him, of course! Didn't Snape teach it to you just a few weeks ago?"

"H-how did you hear about that?" But then he realized it was so obvious. "Shit. Galvin told you, didn't he?" _Damn, I need to be careful about what exactly I share with my Healer mentor._

Bellatrix grinned deviously. "Drakey, darling. If you're too scared to use the Legilimency Charm on him, I'd love to do it for you. Heck, I can just straight up ask him if he loves the mudblood! I have my ways of making people say the truth to my face." She sat up and lifted her shoulders proudly.

"Hehe, sorry Auntie, but I can't let you do that," Draco walked toward the door to exit her room. "Patients are not allowed to leave their rooms, especially if they are in the ICU like yourself."

But a few minutes later, when Draco returned to Bellatrix's room with a pile of pillows in his arms, he saw that her hospital bed was empty. Panicking, Draco dropped his pillows, ran out the door, and burst into Tom Riddle's room, where he saw Bellatrix sitting with Tom on his hospital bed. She was on his right side, with her arm was wrapped around his shoulders, and she was cracking up over a story she was telling him about how close the two of them were so close to having a child before he was defeated by "that Potter boy." Tom was weakly chuckling along, although Draco could tell that he was feeling uncomfortable next to his gaudy aunt.

"Bellatrix!" Draco exclaimed.

She stopped laughing and turned to Draco with a haughty, disinterested expression. "That's _Auntie Bella_ , young man."

"What are you doing here?! I just told you patients are not allowed to venture out of their rooms! Especially if you're infected with an extremely contagious virus!"

"Relax, hun! The Zenoxide virus is transmitted through bodily fluids, and it's not like Tommy and I are going to have sex or anything," she turned and grinned at the young man by her side. "That's something we can look forward to _after_ you're all cured, right, darling?"

Tom chuckled. "You are certainly free to enjoy that when you're healed."

"Oh come on, Tommy, darling!" Bellatrix brushed his frail, dark hair to the side and spoke in a smooth, seductive tone. "Lucius Malfoy brought you back into this world so that you can relive your life. are you really going to relive this new life as a virgin?"

Draco's face contorted with disgust. The two of them just looked so disturbing together, considering his aunt was probably twice Tom Riddle's age.

Bellatrix gave her maniacal laugh before Tom could respond to her question. "I could _not_ imagine Lucius writing you off as a virgin in your biography before bringing you back to this world!"

Tom managed to speak in a calm, casual tone. "Well, even if he did, my life still wouldn't be set in stone. I don't believe that writing my biography with some magical potion would ensure that my new life will follow that biography."

"Ooh, you're so headstrong!" Bellatrix hugged him closer to herself. "Sticking to your own beliefs, regardless of what others say. Just like the old Voldemort!"

"Auntie Bella," Draco slipped out his pager from his white coat pocket. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to call the Head Healers if you're not going to listen to me. You must get back to your room and stay there."

Bellatrix gave an agitated huff and then slipped off Tom's bed. "Fine!" She turned and grinned at Tom Riddle, who was looking exhausted and a little shaken. "FaceTime me later?"

Draco groaned. He kept forgetting that all patients were given temporary cell phones to keep in touch with any loved ones outside the hospital.

Tom gave a small nod. "Sure."

Bellatrix gave an excited squeal. Draco walked up to her and took her arm, pulling her away from Tom's bedside. "You do know that he vows to never be like Voldemort in this new life of his?" Draco muttered to her when they were out of earshot.

Bellatrix threw her head back and cackled. "Hahaha! He wouldn't be my charming Dark Lord if he wasn't being deceptive about his vows." She looked over her shoulder and shot Tom Riddle a wink.

Draco rolled his eyes. "Come on, let's get back to your room."

"Wait!" She yanked her arm out of his grip and faced Tom again. "Tommy, darling! Are you in love with that Granger girl?"

Draco hit his forehead with his palm, feeling the urge to scream with frustration.

Tom chuckled softly. There was no hint of malice in his eyes or voice. "No, Miss Lestrange. I love Dr. Granger as a friend, perhaps even as a sister. But not at all as a romantic partner."

"You sure?" Bellatrix grimaced. "You can tell me anything. And Draco, here, would also keep your secret safe—he hates the little mudblood."

Draco restrained from commenting. His heart raced as he watched Tom look away, shaking his head and smiling. "I am not in love with Dr. Granger," he repeated in his calm, even-tempered tone.

Draco watched as his aunt continued to grimace at him, her eyes unblinking. Was she performing the Legilimency Spell on him? Part of Draco hoped she was, because Draco was actually very curious about the man's feelings for Granger.

Before the silence got awkward, Draco cleared his throat. "Well, sorry about the disturbance, Tom. I'll make sure this doesn't happen again."

Tom Riddle turned to gaze at Draco with his exhausted, slightly disturbed, gaze. He gave a weak smile and nodded. "No need for apologies, Dr. Malfoy. This wasn't your fault."

When he got Bellatrix back into her room, Draco turned to gaze down at his aunt as she settled back in her hospital bed.

"Ah…that young man is quite…something," she sighed. "I just hope I can see the day he fulfills what he had aimed to fulfill before he was killed by that blasted Potter."

Draco narrowed his eyes. He couldn't tell if his aunt was trying to deny the fact that Tom was not the Dark Lord she had hoped for, or if she had actually seen some hidden darkness in him. "Aunt Bella," he spoke carefully, "were you performing the Legilimency Curse on Tom?"

She turned to gaze up at him with a naughty smile. "Of course I was, darling."

"Wh-what are his plans? And…how does he feel about Granger?"

Bellatrix winked at him. "Patient confidentiality, Drakey darling. But if you give me the Organink Wand that brought him back into this world, I'll tell you everything."


	13. Stalked by a Two-Headed Rat

Hermione walked into the coffee shop with Luna at her side. She was rambling to the blonde girl about how difficult of a patient Snape had been to her that morning.

"I swear, that man criticizes my healing abilities every time his blood thickens in response to my Zenoxide injections," Hermione grumbled as they waited in line. "He obviously knows that blood-thickening is a side effect of taking Zenoxide intravenously. He just wants to find an excuse to make me feel bad about being a muggle-born Healer."

Luna nodded. "Yes, the blubberdingers are very active around Snape, especially when he's sick. It's understandable that he would cope by throwing some Jumfairies your way."

Hermione winced at Luna's remark. Then she burst into laughter. This was why she loved spending time with Luna whenever she was in a bad mood.

After Luna ordered her coffee, she turned and bumped into Blaise, splattering some of her coffee on her white coat.

Blaise whirled around and faced her with wide eyes. "Luna! I'm so sorry, let me clean that up for you!" He grabbed a ridiculous handful of napkins and started wiping the left middle of her coat.

"No worries, Blaise," said Luna in her airy voice.

Hermione stifled a laugh. Then she looked over Blaise's shoulder to see Draco sitting at a two-person table with two cups of coffee in front of him. She assumed one of them was for Blaise.

"Blaise, you idiot!" Draco raised his voice. He was grimacing as he watched Luna grab her own napkin and help Blaise wipe off her coat. "I bet you did that on purpose, mate. Too scared to properly initiate a conversation with Lovegood?"

Hermione frowned. Seeing Draco reminded her that Tom Riddle had told her about how he and Bellatrix were in his room earlier this morning, when neither she nor Lexa were present. She stepped out of line to question him, but then stopped in her tracks. A two-headed rat, about the size of a squirrel, was crawling beneath Draco's table. Its eyes were a glowing yellow in the shadows.

"Hey, Granger," Draco's drawling voice snapped her out of her thoughts. "Are you standing there to admire my shoes, or do you have something to say?"

Hermione realized how awkward she must look, standing still with her eyes directed toward the floor beneath Draco's table. But she couldn't take her eyes off that rat. The rat was now crouching there, a few feet from Draco's feet. Its tail extended up and over its body, aiming toward Draco's shins, as if it were going to stab him.

"Draco, look out!" Hermione pointed at the rat. "There's a rat!"

Instantly, the rat darted beneath Draco's chair and disappeared into a hole at the corner of the coffee shop. By the time it was gone, Draco had turned to look beneath his table. He frowned. "Hmph. Trying to play games with me, Granger?"

"I swear, it was just right there," said Hermione hotly. "But whatever, it's gone. It's not like I cared what it was going to do to you anyway." She didn't even bother mentioning that it had two heads. She didn't want to sound as ridiculous as Luna.

"Hermione?" Luna had walked up to her. "Blaise just got me an extra cup of coffee since he spilled some of mine. You're welcome to have this full cup, since I didn't really mind spilling some from my old cup anyway."

"Oh…well, thank you, Luna," she took the cup and looked around for a table. Apparently, the only open table was the one behind Draco. She watched as Blaise sat down in front of Draco with a bagel he had ordered. Hermione gave a sigh. "I guess we have no choice but to sit there."

As soon as she and Luna took their seats, Hermione let out a gasp. The two-headed rat was on the windowsill several feet above Draco and Blaise's table. Its glowing eyes were directed down toward Draco, and its worm-like tail was extending downward in his direction.

Hermione drew out her wand and aimed it at the rat. "Alarte Ascendre!"

She had cried out the spell, just as the rat's tail-tip was merely an inch above Draco's head. The rat's body instantly crashed through the windowsill, causing sharp pieces of glass to fall over Draco, Blaise, and their table.

"Merlin's beard!" Blaise nearly fell back in his chair.

Draco's head shot up to gaze at the broken window. Then he looked over his shoulder. His startled, wide-eyed expression transformed into a glare as he saw Hermione standing at her table behind him, with her wand still pointed at the window.

"Granger, are you trying to get me injured today?" He scoffed, getting up to brush off the glass pieces that had landed on his lap and hair.

"Draco, that rat—"

"You know, if you want to unleash your anger on me, I'd rather have you do so in my face like a real Gryffindor, rather than trying to screw me over behind my back. Only Slytherins like myself are allowed to do that." Draco started stomping away from his table and toward the exit door. He opened the door, and was instantly struck on the forehead by a glazing, orange-brown tail of the rat. His entire body started seizing, as if he were getting electrocuted.

"Draco!" Hermione shouted, rushing over to his aid.

But then the tail drew back. Draco's eyes slowly shut, and he fell forward, flat on his face.

"Draco, mate!" Blaise squatted at his side and turned him over. Hermione and Luna hurried over and looked down to see dark-red blood leaking from a penny-sized dot on Draco's forehead.

"We got to get him back to the hospital!" Hermione shouted. "I'll page Lexa and we'll try to help him!"

Fortunately, Hermione, Lexa, and Luna were able to heal him almost an hour later. Hermione gazed at his unconscious body on the hospital bed.

"So he was stung by an Electrat?" Hermione turned to Lexa.

Her Healer mentor nodded, her eyes wide with shock. "Luckily you got him treated within one hour. If you had waited any longer, he would have surely been dead."

Luna's head was tilted as she stared down at Draco. "Hmm, I wonder why that rat was specifically trying to follow him."

Hermione threw her hands in the air. "Thank you, Luna! I tried to warm him."

Lexa jumped. "I bet Tom Riddle's behind this!"

Hermione winced. "What?! Lexa, you're not going to blame him for another—"

"One of Draco's maniacal patients was getting all flirty with Tom!" Shouted Lexa, looking ready to collapse with fear. "He could have been trying to seek vengeance by sending this rat to attack Draco!" She hurried out of the room before anyone could say a word.

Hermione rolled her eyes as she let out a groan.

Luna turned to her friend, looking concerned. "Don't worry, Hermione. I'll go and accompany Lexa and make sure she doesn't say anything peculiar to Tom."

Hermione didn't know what counted as "peculiar" to Luna, but she nodded anyway. As the blonde girl left the room, Hermione turned to see Draco slipping off his hospital bed to put on his white coat.

"How embarrassing," he muttered. "You better not tell anyone else in this hospital that I was a patient for almost an hour."

Hermione scoffed. "You're welcome, Malfoy."

He turned to her with a frown. "You think I'm going to thank you? I wouldn't have ran in that rat's direction if you hadn't broken that window!"

"I wouldn't have broken that window if that Electrat wasn't there! I merely saved your life, Malfoy."

He gave her a sardonic smile. "How touching, Granger. I guess you do care about me."

"Well, to cite Dr. Milette Barkson: I took care of you because it was the right thing to do, not because I liked you by any means."

Hermione thought she saw a glimmer of hurt in Draco's eyes, but she ignored it as soon as he started smiling smugly at her.

"You may have just put me in a new danger now, Granger," he said. "What if your psychotic Healer mentor was right?"

"What?! You can't possibly believe Lexa. Tom Riddle had nothing to do with what happened today."

"I dunno, the guy looked pretty uncomfortable when Bellatrix intruded in his room and started getting all flirty with him," Draco crossed his arms as he met Hermione's eyes with a concerned expression. "If he's after me, I might just end up like Weaselbee in the ICU."

"Oh, please. There's no reason Tom would ever want to kill you. Now if you please excuse me, I've got my next patient to see, and I'm sure do too, now that I've allowed you to be a Healer again."

She turned her back and stormed out of the room.

Draco's smug smile slowly transformed into a rather worried expression as Hermione left. Deep down, he truly was panicking. What if Tom Riddle knows? Draco knew that if Tom found out how he truly felt about Hermione, there was a high chance that he really had sent the rat.


End file.
